Governors testify at Senate hearing on stabilizing insurance market

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today held the second in a series of bipartisan hearings aimed at producing legislation to stabilize the individual health insurance market. Today’s witnesses included Govs. Charlie Baker (R-MA), Steve Bullock (D-MT), Bill Haslam (R-TN), Gary Herbert (R-UT) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO). “Our goal is to get a result in a very short period of time on a 2018 stabilization package that is small, bipartisan and balanced,” Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) told participants. “…I’m hopeful that maybe some combination of continuing cost sharing for a period of time and significant changes in flexibility for states – probably mostly through changes to section 1332 since it’s already in the Affordable Care Act – might provide a basis for action we can take this month.” In a letter this week, AHA and seven other organizations urged the committee to fund cost-sharing reduction benefits for at least two years.